Gustavo Gutierrez: Salvation is Universal, Tangible, and Trans-National

Gustavo Gutierrez is known as the father or founder of liberation theology. A Peruvian priest and theologian, his work, A Theology

of Liberation, remains the classic expression of liberation theology.

Here are two quotes from that work, pertaining to the boundary-crossing (transcending) nature of salvation and to its this-worldly and all-encompassing implications

The liberation which Jesus offers is universal and integral; it transcends national boundaries, attacks the foundation of injustice and exploitation, and eliminates politico-religious confusions, without therefore being limited to a purely ‘spiritual’ plane (132).

Salvation is not something otherworldly, in regard to which the present life is merely a test. Salvation—the communion of human beings with God and among themselves—is something which embraces all human reality, transforms it and leads it to fullness in Christ (85).

 

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